PCs for non techies 2

[Bob T]

We can use PCs for many things, I’ll cover a few here.

Word Processing. Once upon a time any large business would have a typing pool with many people who were skilled at typing letters. The reason was that if you typed something wrong, you would need to start again. Then came the word processor, a program which allows you to see what you have typed on the screen and change things before you printed the letter. These days you do not even have to print the finished letter, you can email it as an attachment or even send it to a fax machine.

Spreadsheets. These are not much different to word processors except that they crunch numbers instead of words. There is an art to using a spreadsheet and the more you use it the better you become. Spreadsheets can be very useful tools for those who wish to do any sort of accounting or financial returns to tax authorities etc. I find that Microsoft Excel is a fairly simple one to use. It is often also used to make notices and charts as it is quite easy to put information into cells and can look much neater than a word processed document.

Just the same way as there are programs to play with words or numbers, there are also those to manipulate sound (music) and pictures.

On the sound side, you will need to have a set of speakers connected and a program that handles the sound like a stereo would. Windows comes with Media Player to do this. If you don’t believe me then stick a music CD into the CD slot and listen. The other thing that a computer can do is copy that music providing you have a writable CD player and a blank CD. If you have not got a writer fitted to the PC then that can be fitted afterwards for less than €30 and it is a simple job.
Computers can also compress music with little loss of quality. The common format is known as MP3. MP3 is about a 15th of the size of a normal music file. You may find that your car stereo and your home HiFi will play MP3 CDs. A good program for copying CDs and MP3 files is called Nero Burning ROM.

For pictures you will need a digital camera to get them into the computer to start with. Once again Windows XP has programs for viewing and playing with these pictures. You will also have a simple program called paint on the computer which allows you to draw pictures of your own. With paint you can also open a photo that you have taken and draw horns onto your favourite politicians head and then print it. You can of course send the pictures from your computer to others via email. You can also store them for free on the internet for others to go to and look at them. An example of this is here http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q259 ... ndordogne/

One of the latest crazes is to use the internet for phone calls, this is known as VIOP which is short for Voice over internet protocol. As long as you have the internet you can call someone else with a program such as Skype. You will need speakers or a headphone and a microphone for this. A better option is to by a Skype phone which plugs into a USB port on your computer. Calls to other people on the same setup are free anywhere in the world. You can also call landlines, but there is normally a charge for this. If you want skype, you will find that it is free to download from www.skype.com. I use it all the time, my skype name is “madmanbob� if you want to try it out. If you are not happy with it, it is easy to remove form the PC.

[Alan Knighting]

Bob,

The world of the PC and the world of the Internet make almost everything possible. Why is it, do you think, that some people need to look for the negatives? Why is it, do you think, that some people still say “it’s too difficult�? Are negatives and difficulties "must have" commodities for the trendies?

Fluffy

[Bob T]

Yes you are correct in that the PC and the internet make many things possible, quicker and cheaper.
In my opinion, people who look for negatives are people who are frightened of the learning curve. If I could have a bag full of confidence to hand out to people who want to start playing with a PC, then life would be easier.
My angle is to tell people that you cannot break the computer by pressing keys. OK you could loose data or even corrupt the operating system (the little mans language) but these things can be re installed. There is no war that the hard disk (cupboard) or the memory (table) can be broken with the keyboard or for that matter a virus. Everything can be cleaned and reset to make the computer operate again.
That is the reason that people with valuable data should make backups of things that are necessary for the running of their business. It is a pain to write your backup data to a CD or DVD every day, and an automatic system that would do it for you to another hard disk (cupboard) makes life very easy.
Never consider anything too difficult, always try something new and if it doesn't do what you want then ask someone else. You'll find that things slot into place and become easier the second time.

[Sue Dyer]

Bob, I've worked with folk who say it is quicker to create a letter, type the address and salutation in, save as then print then change the relevant info. They say Mail Merge isn't worth the bother... Hmmmm, I think they don't know how to do it and won't admit it!

On I.T. I know people who I "show" how to do things time after time. You know they don't really want to learn, they just want you to do it for them. No one showed me how to mail merge, change a toner cartridge, navigate Windows Explorer. I looked around, worked it out for myself or asked questions. I guess it is the interest and enquiring mind that is the difference? I have a couple of offenders who ring me up late at night/last minute for advice. One friend said tables are just too difficult to do and she is a bright, intelligent ex headmistress??!!

I am going to start the massive task of putting my photos into something like Google Picassa and allocating keywords and catagories. I'm fed up not being able to easily find a photo amongst the thousands I have.

[vrooje]

Sue, I remember doing temp work at a small Human Resources company, where they regularly had to send form letters to hundreds of people at once.

When I arrived, they were in the middle of one, and my first job as a temp was pasting hundreds of address labels not only onto envelopes, but onto the letters as well!

For sanity-preserving purposes, I figured out how to do a mail merge with Act! and Word, and did the second batch of letters that way. The president of the company was thrilled -- I had saved them money and time, and everything looked much more professional.

I don't know why the woman I was temporarily filling in for never figured out (or even thought to try to figure out) how to do a mail merge (or use tables or print barcodes for zip codes etc.), but luckily she was gracious enough to just ask me to write up a short set of instructions for how to do it, rather than punish me for upstaging her.

Anyway, I love all those extra bells and whistles -- but then, I did grow up when it was all evolving, so I learned as it came out.

[Alan Knighting]

I've worked with folk who say it is quicker to create a letter, type the address and salutation in, save as then print then change the relevant info.

Sue,

In an earlier incarnation I was Managing Partner and Head of IT of a firm of lawyers in Newcastle.

One of my major projects was to convert everyone in the firm, all 286 of them, to the use of a networked computer system. With some secretaries it was hard work. Some would say “It’s quicker to type a letter and type the address on an envelope�. The answer was “It’s not quicker but it’s especially not quicker when you don’t have a typewriter and, by the way, you don’t type addresses on window envelopes�.

The higher up the pecking order I got the more difficult it became. “I know my place." and "Qualified lawyers don’t dirty their hands on keyboards." and "That’s what secretaries do.� were common responses.

Once the “iron curtains� against progress had been removed and the benefits had been demonstrated there were many enthusiastic users. The detractors? They went elsewhere and took their quill pens with them.

I think IT is a challenge for all, and seen as a threat by some, but it’s not insurmountable for any.

Fluffy

[Bob T]

Alan, I was trained as a systems analyst using SSADM. My task was to develop databases and bring the aircraft engineering authority into the 20th century. When interviewing people to create data flow charts I always found then asking if they could keep their little books and wall charts. The answer was always yes.
People soon realised that at the click of a button they could have more upto date information much quicker. I left it to them to get rid of the charts and books when they wanted to.
Trouble is that life became much easier for the whole office and the task became less manhour intensive, I did myself out of my engineering job!
We are talking home and small business users here and decent IT systems will allow people more time to concentrate on other aspects like wine and things.

[Alan Knighting]

We are talking home and small business users here and decent IT systems will allow people more time to concentrate on other aspects like wine and things.

Bob,

Of course we are and many of those users have created their own Web Sites whilst concentrating on wine and other things.

I’m not on a mission here. All I’m suggesting is that we embrace IT and find out what it can do for us individually rather than rejecting it on the assumption that it can do little, if anything. Even using e-mail or being on a Forum is using IT.

Fluffy

[Jimbo]

Why is it, do you think, that some people still say “it’s too difficult�?

Some people still choose to read books, write letters and use the telephone to stay in touch which is kinda cool if it suits them. They have no interest in IT and the internet. However, if you run a business (big or small) and your clients/customers need to find you and want to hire you and pay for your services through the internet, you really don't have much choice but to get on board. In any business, you're generally driven by your clients' needs and preferences.

But it's not yet true world-wide. I've worked for companies in East and Southeast Asia where personal contact is everything. I couldn't get past first base until I'd been formally introduced, shaken hands, talked and taken tea. Which is nice - even when you're in a hurry.

Jim